The extreme brevity of the inscriptions and their repetitive nature leads the authors to conclude that the “writing” of the Indus civilization was, in reality, formed by non-linguistic signs used as symbols, like it happened in various cultures of the Ancient Middle East.

Mundigak, in southeast Afghanistan, a site situated in the periphery of the Indus valley, started as a Neolithic settlement to become a true city in periods III-IV (4th and 3rd millennia). The article focuses on the evolution of a large building, the most important of the place, identified initially as a palace.

The comparative analysis of several Vedic texts and the epic Mahabharata give support to the hypothesis that the ancestral land of the Kurus, protagonists of the latter, was located where the first state of India was born (situated in Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh).

The results of one season of excavations at the archeological site of Ai Khanoum, situated in northeast Afghanistan close to the borders with Russia and China. Even to an area so remote reached the hellenistic influence, visible in the city’s design and architecture. Many buildings were typical of Greek cities and are described here: gymnasium, propylaea, the palace, the arsenal, a public building of unknown function, fortifications.

Transcription, translation and extensive commentary of three Saka (Shaka) inscriptions engraved in two reliquaries and in a votive plaque. The Shakas, a people of Iranian stock, known as Scythians in the West, invaded India in the first century BC establishing kingdoms in the northwest of the country. This article, besides considering their political organization, tries to clarify their obscure chronology discussing the various eras of the title.

The archeological excavations in Dalverzin-tepe, southern Uzbekistan, revealed one of the main urban centers of the Kushanas. The article, a summary of a book presenting the results of the excavations until 1974, examines urban development, fortifications, private dwellings, artisans quarters, sanctuaries, necropolis and artifacts, presenting plans of the site and of the main structures.

Speculative reconstruction of the migrations of those that the Chinese called Yue zhi, and that later were known as Kushana. Native, probably, from eastern Central Asia (a region that belongs now to China), the Yue zhi remained for some time in Sogdiana, (today south Uzbekistán), being that stay and their interaction with local populations the axis of the article.

First of a series of articles on epigraphic documents from the Kushan period (1st-3rd centuries AD), presenting various rock inscriptions found in Dast-e-Nawur, Afghanistan (100 km southwest of Kabul).

The longest inscription in kharoshti script discovered so far, engraved in a golden leaf and deposited as an offering inside a stupa. Its author seems to have been a local chief, protector of Buddhism, nominally subject to the Kushanas, but virtually autonomous.

Study of the populations, and the economic and social development of the region extended between the Kaveri river and the extreme south of the Indic peninsula, in a historical context. Main topics are: the evolution of the vegetation and its modification by humans, the progress of irrigation, the origin of different castes and social groups (Kallar, Velallar, Maravar, etc).

This first article of a series about circulation and transport in ancient India is divided in 4 parts. The first one treats the bridges of the Himalayas, the second the stone and brick bridges of the peninsula, the third the wooden bridges of the Tamil region, and the fourth and last classifies the bridges of the entire country according to geography.

The analysis of Roman coins, Chola inscriptions, toponymy, and actual remains of pathways are employed to determine the location of the ancient routes leading from northern Kerala and Karnata towards the Tamil region.

A number of structures linked to the ancient routes of southern India are registered and described: Mughal milestones, water reservoirs over pillars, and sculptures of protective deities like Ganesha and Hanuman.

Reliefs of vehicles are unusually frequent in the Hoysala temples of Karnataka, dating from the 12th-13th centuries. Most are found in friezes containing narrative scenes from both epics. They are the main source of information about their structure allowing to discuss the role of the war chariot (if any) in the battles of the Hoysalas.

From antiquity, starting with the first Tamil literature (Sangam) and “The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea”, references abound to the importance of navigation and maritime commerce along the Coast of Coromandel (Tamilnadu), but there are few precisions about the location of its ports. The author updates the subject, noting that many ports mentioned in those texts have not been identified yet and others erroneously so.

Portuguese documents illuminate the economic life of the ports of the Tambraparni river delta and of the Gulf of Mannar, in the extreme south of the Indic peninsula, as well as the political and religious conflicts of their inhabitants.

The main focuses of this essay are the channel of Pampan, that separates the Indic peninsula from the island of Ramesvaram, and the ancient route joining the western coast of Ramesvaran to the great temple of the same name (close to the eastern coast) facilitating its access to Hindu pilgrims.

In a temple, in Tamilnadu, there is a mural painting of a ship transporting horses. Depiction of ships is extremely rare in India, and this is the only one that allow us to visualize how those specialized in the commerce of these animals looked like in the 16th century.

Memorial stone pillars in honor of those fallen in wars (viragal) abound in Karnataka and Maharashtra; they are carved with, mainly terrestrial, battle scenes. A few (found next to Bombay and Goa) illustrate, in contrast, maritime battles that are very useful to better understand ancient nautical technology.

The Pre-Islamic history of the Maldives archipelago, located southwest of the tip of India, is very little known. This article reviews all the archeological explorations done in this islands, from the first in 1922 until 1982, revealing evidence of the peaceful coexistence of Buddhism and Hinduism before the massive conversion of the population to Islam in 1153.

The existence in Southeast Asia of ceramic and bronze vessels of Indian origin, or imitations of them, is one of the few available markers to detect early exchanges between the two areas. From the 3rd century BC., there are evidences of commerce which intensify from the 3rd century AD onwards, particularly in those states where the cultural influence of India was stronger.

The extreme north of what is today Pakistan, in spite of the formidable mountain barriers of the Karakoram and Hindu Kush, had established contacts with China, Central Asia and Iran since prehistoric times. A few pilgrim accounts, but mostly the abundance of petroglyphs and inscriptions allow researchers to sketch the history of the region starting with the hunter-gatherers of the Stone Age. In the Bronze Age the influence of Central Asia was felt, and later followed the nomads, the Iranians, the expansion of Buddhism and the penetration of Sogdian merchants.

The discovery of two cemeteries in Turfan, a city-oasis in the Tarim river basin located in the northern branch of the Silk Road, filled with documents (texts, epitaphs, artifacts) showing little trace of Buddhism disputes the long held view that Buddhism entered China through Central Asia.

Dharmaraksha was one of the greatest translators of Sanskrit into Chinese. Born in the 3rd century AD in Dunhuang, in the Xinjiang region of Central Asia (now in China), his activities and contacts raise questions about the role of the Tarim basin in the transmission of Buddhism from India to China.

The Yuan dynasty of China favored the commercial and diplomatic exchanges with India with an intensity unseen before, particularly during the reign of Qubilai Khan. Sixteen missions were sent to India between 1272-1296, in their majority to the southern part of the country, which were reciprocated by eighteen missions from India to China. These contacts, little studied up to now, are the central concern of this article.

The port of Kayal, in the Tambraparni river delta, flourished during the 13th and 14th centuries thanks to the import of horses and the commerce of pearls. Its contacts with China, attested by Yuan and Ming sources, are the kernel of this article that complements the one above.

In the first part, some ideas about the creation of the universe present in the Rig Veda, specially that of a creator god, abstract and neutral, are compared with Greek conceptions. In the second part the notion of cosmic order in Vedic India and ancient Greece is compared.

Vac, the personification of language, was a minor Vedic goddess devoid entirely of anthropomorphic traits. However, some hymns of the Rig Veda (in particular 1.164) suggest that for certain elites interested in metaphysic speculation her role was much more important, rivaling even that of Prajapati or Brahman.

The first representations of Krishna, in the 2nd-3rd centuries AD., were mistaken for those of Vishnu because he appears as a four-armed deity. Another, contemporary, but much rarer, icon is found in stone-weights for athletes in which Krishna is shown with two arms fighting the carnivorous horse Kesin. Both kinds of icons, the two-armed and the four-armed, inspired later images of Vishnu and of his avatar revealing the complex interrelationship and progressive integration between two different cults.

A detailed examination of the early iconography of Durga in the act of killing the buffalo-demon (her most popular myth) suggest to the author that, in that epoch, the goddess was more related to Krishna than to Siva.

Inaugural article of the series dedicated to the mantras or ritual formulae. Mantras can be prescribed without considering the individual or, alternatively, he can choose the most convenient for him. This selection of mantras is not arbitrary, but a complex technique described in a variety of texts.

A passage in Buddhist writings where Buddha affirms his own superiority comparing himself with the lotus, has been subject of numerous interpretations. His superhuman character is generally recognized but the nature of his transcendence is a matter of dispute.

The birth of Buddha in the forest of Lumbini, close to the city of Kapilavastu, is accepted as a fact by many Buddhists and historians of Buddhism, but it is rarely and lately mentioned in the Pali Canon. Bareau considers that it is a legend formulating a hypothesis about its genesis.

Here, is presented a translation of the Ekottara-agama, a Buddhist sutra that survives only in a Chinese version, akin in many points to the Mahavastu. It contains a partial biography of Buddha telling events after the Enlightenment until his return to Kapilavastu.

The goal of this work is to extract information contained in Buddhist texts about the circumstances of a possible first schism headed by Devadatta. With this purpose, the Vinaya Pitakas of six different Buddhist schools were investigated: Theravadin. Mahasamghika, Mahisasaka, Dharmaguptaka, Sarvastivadin and Mulasarvastivadin. As the Vinaya Pitaka is concerned with monastic discipline, it is the most useful source of information for an event that affected deeply the Buddhist community.

In Buddhist literature there are frequent stories of miraculous cures performed by Buddha. Some of them are commented here because they disclose the attitudes of Buddhists towards illnesses. The author considers, also, the possible antagonism in Indian culture between miraculous healings and the law of karma.

The followers of Hinayana Buddhism believed that the Mahayana works were not the word of Buddha, and that many of its doctrines were a distortion of his teachings. Bhavya, an author of the 6th century, defended the Mahayana ideas trying to conciliate them with the Hinayanas, and this same conciliatory attitude is observed, also, in the Lotus Sutra.

A variety of epigraphic, numismatic, literary and artistic sources permit to trace the slow process by which Buddhism was known in the West, and how the Hellenistic art influenced the art of India, particularly that of the Gandhara school.

The Purva Mimansa, whose main goal was the interpretation of Vedic texts, was one of the six orthodox philosophical schools of Hinduism. In the 7th century, it was divided into two branches headed by Kumarila and Prabhakara. Some scholars consider that there was a third branch headed by Murari Misra, the putative author of Tripadinitinayana. However, this text seems very close to the teachings of Prabhakara and does not support its affiliation to a different branch of the Purva Mimamsa.

The Vedantic philosophy of Gaudapada, who lived before Sankara: an early form of monism (advaita) advocating the identity of the soul with Brahman (the universal principle) and the irreality of the world.

The authors discuss the main ideas of Ramanuja, the founder of qualified non-dualism (visishtadvaita), who tempered the monism of Gaudapada and Sankara sustaining the reality of the world, and transformed, at the same time, their abstract god in a personal god with identifiable attributes.

The octuple way proposed by Patanjali in his aphorisms, in order to achieve liberation, starts with a series of moral rules grouped in two categories: restrictions (yamas) and observances (niyamas). The article examines the nature and meaning of each one of these rules.

Sadyojyoti, who lived before the 9th century, was one of the first thinkers of the Saiva-siddhanta, one of the major philosophical schools of Saivism. After an extensive introduction, follows the translation of the Tattva-samgraha or "Compendium of the Essences", a treatise by him about the fundamental principles of the universe.

A second work of Sadyojyoti is the Tattva-traya-nirnaya or "Consideration of the Three Essences", an opuscule about mala (“impurity”) which connects the three fundamental principles or essences (tattvas): Siva, the soul and matter. An introduction precedes the translation of the text which is accompanied by the commentary of Aghorasiva, another philosopher of the school.

Ramakantha was another important member of the northern Saiva-siddhanta school that used Sanskrit as a medium. His brief Nada-karika,devoted to the nature of words, and written in verse in the 11th century, is presented here with its commentary by Aghorasiva.

"Verses of the Middle Way" by Nagarjuna is a key text of the Madhyamika or Madhyamaka philosophical school, the most important Mahayana school, with Yogacara, to stem from India. Here, the famous chapter about nirvana is translated, preceded by an introduction where the sequence of ideas expressed in it is traced.